Hi,
This is Pavlina and welcome to this simple yet powerful practice for when you need to shift energy,
Shake off a sensation,
Emotion or maybe an experience that might have gotten a bit stuck.
Our nervous system is designed to process interactions and let them pass through us.
But when we are out of balance,
Maybe a bit overwhelmed,
This mechanism doesn't seem to work perfectly and we sometimes end up stuck in loops or reflecting on a conversation over and over.
Instead of trying to think our way out of it,
Here is a way to release it directly from your body.
We will begin this practice first with movement,
Then breath and then finally finding stillness.
You can kind of imagine yourself as a glass full of water mixed with beautiful shiny sand and some dirt in it.
So first we'll shake the glass to separate the sand from the dirt.
We'll then blow the dirt to the surface and in stillness,
Those pieces of dirt can separate easily from the essence that lands at the bottom.
So if you are ready to join me,
Make sure you are in a space where you are least likely to be disturbed,
Where you can set aside any sense of self-consciousness so that you can really give yourself this permission to release in whatever shape it might take.
The only thing you need is space to be able to stand and move a little bit around.
No yoga mat needed,
No special equipment.
So let's begin by finding a steady standing position,
Feet more or less hip distance apart so that you feel grounded and held.
Maybe you might want to rock a little bit forward and back until you find what feels like midpoint.
And checking in with yourself in this moment in time.
You might want to close your eyes or soften your gaze and invite the attention inwards.
Noticing what you notice without any expectations or pressure.
There might be a certain part of your body that feels a little bit more alive,
A little bit more present in your awareness.
There could be some sense of warmth or cold,
Maybe somewhere that feels a little bit constricted or somewhere where you feel spacious.
If you are indeed feeling a bit stuck,
What does it feel like in your body in this moment?
And if there isn't anything specific that's coming up for you,
That's okay as well.
This neutrality is absolutely fine as well.
And now that you have taken stock of your starting point,
We can start finding a little bit of movement,
A bit of bounce.
So gentle,
Soft bend in your knees,
Starting to peel off your heels and letting them drop.
There's this little rhythm of bouncing up and down.
Your upper body is soft and responding to this motion that's going simply up and down,
Away from the ground and back.
The action,
The activity is more in the lift and then there's the passive return,
Bounce back.
And notice that as the movement is coming from your feet,
There is this kind of general shakiness that's starting to happen in your arms and your shoulders.
And if you would like,
You can make it a little bit bigger.
So without any specific way of organizing the movement,
Allow for your elbows to be bouncing with the movement,
The arms to be a little bit more shaking.
Maybe there is a little bit of a shoulders lifting and releasing down.
If you would like,
You can bring a little bit more intensity by bringing the bounciness into gentle jumps and maybe even adding real active shaking through your arms,
Your wrists,
Your elbows,
The arms moving forward,
Back,
Up in all directions.
This is not meant to look pretty or good.
This is simply meant to feel quite enlivening and quite activating.
If you would like,
You can even add a little bit of a voice,
A bit of a letting your body to release through the shaking,
Through the bouncing and the voice.
You might want to keep going for a little while longer,
Either bringing the intensity a little bit higher or maybe slowing it down.
And follow your own intuition where you feel like this is enough.
You can simply stop and find stillness.
Or if you would like,
You can give yourself a couple more moments of this generalized shaking,
A little bit of a jumping around,
Letting as if you were shaking off water from your body,
From your skin.
If you are still unlodging through the movement,
Slowly think about slowing down until you find stillness.
Reconnecting with your feet and in this stillness noticing the echo of movement in your body.
There might be a sudden sense of heat,
Maybe a heartbeat.
Might have sped up a little.
And you can now start using the palms of your hands to gently brush off.
And I say gently,
But the pressure is up to you.
Using the palm of your hand to brush the surface of your body as if you are brushing specks of dust from your clothing,
Starting at the shoulder and one arm.
Really brushing off as if you were clearing up the whole surface of your body.
So also underarm,
Moving on to the other arm,
The head,
Your hair,
The back of your neck,
The back of your body as much as possible,
The front of your body,
Sides of your torso,
Your pelvis,
The hips,
Both of your legs,
The front of the legs,
The back of the legs,
Coming back to your buttocks,
Any other part of your body that you feel like wants to be cleared off and brushed off,
You can return there.
Until you are ready to find stillness once more.
With awareness landing inside,
In your inner experience,
Notice what you notice now.
You have the opportunity now to transition into seated,
Simply sitting down on the ground beneath you,
Or you can remain standing.
Either way,
We will take a couple of releasing breaths,
A physiological sigh,
Where we take a double inhale through the nose,
A little pause on top,
And then a big exhale through the mouth.
So let's do it together.
Inhale through the nose,
All the way into your belly,
Into your chest,
One more sip of air through the nose,
Hold,
And then through your open mouth,
Release,
Exhale.
Again,
Slow inhalation into belly,
Into chest,
One more sip of air,
Hold,
And release.
Again,
Inhale,
One more little inhale,
Open mouth,
And maybe with a sigh,
Two more,
One last time,
And release.
Closing your mouth,
Allow for your breath to return to a natural rhythm,
And bring your awareness to what feels like the center of your body,
Your midline,
Kind of the area alongside your spine,
The central column of your physical body.
Resting your awareness there for a little moment,
Connecting to the center of your being,
And imagine or maybe feel into the personal space that radiates outwards around your physical body.
What we will do is now taking your hands,
Palms facing outwards away from you,
Use your hands to push away in all directions,
And as you're moving the hands away from your body,
Away from that central line,
From the midline,
Use that movement slow,
Strong,
As if you were pushing through resistance in the air.
That movement is releasing and removing anything from your space,
From your mental and physical space,
Anything that doesn't belong to you,
Anything that doesn't serve you.
And as you're moving here,
Your hands pointing outwards,
Above you,
In front of you,
Behind you,
In all directions,
As you're going through these motions,
There might be specific things that come up that you feel like you're pushing away.
It could be a memory,
It could be words,
Could be a certain sensation,
Or you might just go through the motion knowing that even without identifying what needs to be released,
Your body is naturally going through that process.
Once you feel that you have cleared out that space,
And you might take a little while longer,
That's okay too,
But once you feel like there is a bit of clarity,
You turn the palms towards you now,
And instead start moving the hands towards you as if inviting,
In this inviting,
Welcoming motion,
Start bringing to yourself,
As if dragging to yourself,
To your space,
Everything that feels good and supportive for you,
Filling in your space with goodness and what you desire.
Again,
This could be something specific and concrete,
Or just a certain quality,
Maybe you would like more peace,
Spaciousness,
Clarity,
Love,
There might be a favorite color that feels good to you,
Filling up and saturating your space with that goodness,
As you are moving the hands around your body in 360 directions towards you.
You might keep going through this process for a little while,
But when you feel saturated with goodness,
You can release your hands either into your lap or resting on the front of your body.
Let's take a clearing breath,
Inhaling through the nose,
And an open mouth exhale.
May this final exhalation release any last remainder of tension or stickiness in your system.
Notice how you're feeling in this moment in time,
Without any pressure or expectation,
Simply noticing what might have shifted in the last couple of minutes.
I would love to know how this experience has landed for you,
So please do share your comments,
Ask any questions,
And let me know if there are any challenges in your daily life that you would like to receive support with.
Thank you for allowing me to guide you,
And see you next time.
